Lego are insanely popular right now, but there isn’t much in the way of JNCs. They have licenses from Nissan, Toyota, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and maybe Honda, but they barely do anything with them. There’s a lot of potential in those catalogs. We’re pretty certain a nice Datsun 240Z or Toyota FJ40 made of plastic bricks would sell quite well, and be a welcome alternative to yet another supercar. We’ve explored what creative fans can make, and Lego does sometimes adopt individual-built works into actual kits.
What JNC should be made into a Lego set?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “If you could magically merge the body of one car with the hardware of another, what would you choose?“.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, many respondents chose to merge beautifully designed sheetmetal with a chassis and drivetrain from the same marque. Who wouldn’t jump at the the chance to drive Sammy B‘s B13 Sentra stretched over a Nissan S-chassis, Lakdasa‘s Datsun Fairlady roadster dropped on an S15 Silvia, or dankan‘s Honda Aerodeck with FL5 Civic Type R bones? Alan aimed even higher with an HD Mazda 929 on the stillborn Amati W12 platform, while Kris went with something that exists but that is so rare it might as well be a fantasy build, an S30 Z on a Hako GT-R.
Others were more practical. JJ combined the hybrid technology and body of a Honda CR-Z with the engine and suspension of the brilliant Prelude SH. Sammy B‘s wish for a 6MT Lexus IS SportCross or V6 6MT Acura TSX wagon doesn’t even seem that far-fetched. And Fred Langille wanted a Nissan S-Cargo on a V6 D21 chassis, which prompted Bill Hartley to wonder about swapping it with a Pulsar motor.
Some dreamed up true Frankenstein creations by mixing and matching marques. Land Ark imagined Mazda RX-7 sheetmetal over a RWD Subaru STi. Speaking of rotaries, Sebastian Motsch came up with an NSU Ro80 but with the last production rotary power unit, from a Mazda RX-8. BW conjured up a Nissan Pao or Lotus Elite, both over Miata hardware. CycoPablo would then reuse the Miata shell but swap in a Honda B, K, or FC engine.
The winner this week was Franxou, who went with the rather unique option of putting a more modern body on an older and less powerful chassis for the sake of making it RWD:
One thing that happened during the ’80s is the start of the Front Wheel Drive domination. Of course, While we lost some purity of in the steering feel, it gave us cars that were easy to drive, safer under winter conditions, and with well packaged interior that were often bigger than the Rear Wheel Drive cars they replaced. Some engineers were engineering so hard that we even got amazing FWD sport cars (and sporty cars)!
But there is something special when you feel the shove coming from the bottom of behind your back, instead of being dragged by the front wheels, and a different feeling to taking a curve when the rear wheels are pushing instead of trailering.
Living in the modern era, do I miss RWD sport cars? Well, not really, they still are there! But I do miss RWD sporty cars, those that were not pure sport cars, just simple coupés or fastbacks, quick, light, full of feelings without being too much to drive, especially for a beginner driver. Think about what the Miata was, right when the RX7 got too serious about being fast.
So what hardware would I mesh together? I’d take the FWD and make it RWD: last-gen Ford Probe (does it count as japanese? I always thought it looked better than the MX-6) with a V6 Nissan 200SX driveline.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Image: Peter Blackert
Patrol Y60. Boxy and angular 4×4’s look best in Lego. The current Defender model not only looks like a Defender with no imagination required but working suspension and tons of gear make it a fun model. The Y60 with it’s flares on top of box flares and round headlamps are IMO the epitome of a good looking 4×4.
First one that pops in mind is a proper large & detailed 1985 Toyota pickup to go with the latest DeLorean. I fear it’s too “simple” but it would be flippin awesome. The Playmobil version is passable at best (mainly since it lacks the Toyota license).
Staying with a licensed theme, a 2000GT convertible (with an option to make it a hardtop) from You Only Live Twice would complement the Bond Aston Martin well.
After that, hard to argue with any of the usual suspects: FJ40, NA Miata, 240Z, or first gen NSX. It would be cool to see how they try to get the slippery body of a NSX or RX7 right.
If they wanted to be really bold, make a Previa 🙂
A 2000GT would be really hard to make in Lego with all the curves, but I love the idea. And man, that Playmobil version saddens me!
Personally I would love to see a Mazda 787B as a Technic set. Just building the 4-rotor engine would make my day.
Usually, kids want the bedroom poster cars, they not only do not know JNCs, but they have no nostalgic connection to them, so it will always be a hard sell…
But race cars are always cool! No need for the old folks to explain why this plain looking (for a kid) Honda CVCC is actually amazing, no need for actual history, race car! Single seat, exposed wheels, long exhaust in plain sight, because RACE CAR!
I’d wager the best JNC to turn into Lego kit would be the F1 winning Honda RA272, and then make it a series of legendary race cars.
Funny you bring up the 240Z as a Lego set. Apparently somebody actually “rebricked” the Lego Porsche 911GT3 RS kit into a 1:8 Datsun 240Z kit!
I was on the pre-order list for the 911GT3 RS kit, and it took a bit of mental trade to justify forking out $300 for that kit. The release was ultimately slightly delayed, and I received a $30 voucher. Upon receipt, I kept the box unopened, just because I didn’t want to “break the seal.” When he got older, and also during pandemic boredom, my son and I finally cracked it open and started building it, and we eventually finished the Porsche. “Yeahh…”
Well, there goes $300 ($270), and I started googling around, seeing if people were turning the Porsche into a, say, radio controlled car. Then I came across a few sites where people were re-building the kit so that it was a completely different end result. In this case, a 240Z, with the Z432R paint scheme!
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-26511/Pleasedontspammebro/1971-nissan-240z-fairlady-alternate-build-of-42056-porsche-911-gt3-rs/#details
I ended up buying the instructions, buying one extra part, and started tearing down the Porsche. The boxer 6 has been rearranged to be inline-6, and the lines are 85% accurate. Sure, the wheels are way big that makes for the steering feature to be compromised, but I’d say this kit definitely gets more attention as a more-attainable Datsun! If Lego put in a few more hours to smooth out the edges, I think this kit would be really hot.
That is impressive!
Dang it, I think my first try went down the drain, so here goes again, and it I end up having two posts, please delete the earliest one.
The thing is, JNC will always be a hard sell to kids, they do not know these cars because they were not around during their lifetime, and they do not have any nostalgia toward them.
Kids don’t want their old folk explaining why “This Honda CVCC is super cool and important in the History of cars, it’s the best!”, they want cool cars, fast cars, bedroom poster cars!
Racecars? Single seat, open wheels, long tubular exhausts shooting out of the back in plain sight, modern or not, racecars will always be cool because racecar!
So I would wager that the F1 winning Honda RA272 would make a great Lego kit, and then make it into a whole Lego racecars lineup!
Psst…… Officially it’s all caps… it should be LEGO, not Lego. ;-P
Right you are!
At least I haven’t said “Legos” 😉
Delica!